Jacob Gottlieb Establishes New Healthcare-Focused Hedge Fund

When Jacob Gottlieb graduated from college he held a medical doctor degree. He then completed his internship but decided that what he really wanted to do was operate a hedge fund one day. That dream came true just three years later when he co-founded Balyasny Asset Managment in 2001. Given his educational background, he has solely been investing in healthcare startups and more seasoned firms since that time.

Jacob Gottlieb was at Balyasny Asset Management for four years, routinely being its top portfolio manager. In 2005 he decided to start a firm that he wholly owned, Visium Asset Management. This was a highly successful hedge fund management company. In addition to his headquarters in New York City, Jacob Gottlieb also established offices in two other financial capitals which were San Francisco and London.

As of 2016, Visium Capital Management was worth $8 billion. It all came crashing down, though, because of insider trading. Jacob Gottlieb didn’t have anything to do with this, and was cleared by the authorities, but it ended up that he was the only key executive left at his company. He decided he had no choice but to wind down operations and return money to his investors as it was the right thing to do.

He started his latest hedge fund, Altium Capital, in June 2016. The first trade he made was buying a significant stake in Oramed Pharmaceuticals. They came up with an insulin capsule that is taken orally, a great solution for diabetics tired of jabbing themselves with needles. He liked this product and that the company is backed by world-class scientific experts.

Another company Jacob Gottlieb invested in is Oragenics. They are in the business of Replacement Therapy, coming up with innovative antibiotics to treat infectious diseases. How their products work is using beneficial bacteria to replace ones that are harmful.